MTFCA Forum

Another Off-Topic posting reminded me of a story my dad used to tell. A friend of his had a pre-War Ford. A flathead V8. Sometime after the war, the engine had a valve head break off. The piston and bore were destroyed. Cars were not easy to come by after the war, as most of you know. What to do... On his wood lathe, my dad turned a hunk of wood that fit nice & tight in the bore. He had to beat it in as a matter of fact. To keep things somewhat balanced, he put two rod caps on the crank journal. He also closed up the spark plug gap, just in case. Viola, Ford's new V7! All agreed, it ran pratty darn smooth, and it took a careful ear to notice the miss. Given the scarcity of cars, and a generous offer from a would-be buyer, my dad's friend decided it was time to sell. The new owner needed a "good car" for an upcoming cross-country trip. Somewhere along the way, the new owner noticed a slight misfire and took the car into a garage for a tune-up. The trouble was quickly located... a closed-up spark plug gap! New plugs and he was on his way. It was obviously still misfiring, but like a car running better after a car wash, the owner was satisfied... for a while. Seems that every so often, a whiff of gas found its way into the plugged cylinder. The new spark plug did its thing, and after a while, the wood block made its way ever closer to the spinning crankshaft. Pretty soon, the crank was chopping away at the wood block like a lumberjack. On to the next mechanic! Can you imagine his face when the mechanic removed the pan?!!! The new owner contacted my dad's buddy, wanting to be reimbursed for an engine rebuild. Dad's friend told him it was more than the car was worth and asked why he didn't just knock the piece of wood back up and keep going.

The moral of the story, is that my dad needed a better class of friends

Flathead Fords would run smooth on 4 cylinders, which could be either of two different combinations.

1 5 4 8 6 3 7 2 (?)

Reminds me of my uncle who had a Model A. He blew up one piston and the rod was just going up and down in the cylinder. This caused the wrist pin to dig a hole in the cylinder wall and finally the engine gave out. I bought it from him for 15 dollars and used the good parts, transmission, rear end and radiator for my Model A. The body was cut up for scrap. It was a coupe which had previously had the trunk sawed off and a wood truck was built in the back and also over the cab for hauling baby furniture manufactured by the family factory.
Glad the family is out of that business now because of all the potential lawsuits when children are injured using those products.
Norm